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Tuesday, July 21, 2015

The screening for the new Jake Gyllenhaal movie was tonight and from the number of people that showed up it was a hot ticket. If any of you have seen the zillion commercials for the film, you pretty much know what goes down in the movie: Billy Pope, a boxer at the top of his game, loses his wife, home, and his daughter and fights his way back to the top with the help of a tough trainer played by Forest Whitaker.

Is the movie worth the price of admission? Sure. Gyllenhaal and Whitaker give great performances and Rachel McAdams and young Oona Laurence are exceptional in the roles of Maureen and Leila Pope, but I don't see it being Jake's Oscar winning role. That in my opinion should have been Nightcrawler, a film that was a tour de force for the actor.

Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson and Naomie Harris also appear in the film and 50 brings the right amount of smarminess to his role of Billy' manager Jordon. I would have liked to see more from Naomie's character as a social worker which was originally offered to Lupita Nyong'o who smartly turned it down. The role had no depth and someone of Lupita's talents would have been wasted in the role. Naomie certainly was.

The film opens this Friday nationwide so check it out in your local theater.

Sunday, July 19, 2015

A vigilante movie starring Oscar nominee/SAG winner Viola Davis and triple threat Jennifer Lopez had me intrigued ever since the first moment I heard the news that it was being made. Viola is a power house actress so I was curious as to how her and Jennifer would complement one another in a movie. Not that I find Jennifer's acting bad, but Viola is a Master at what she does, and she is deserving of a strong co star. Just peep her scenes with the incomparable Cicely Tyson on her hit show How To Get Away With Murder to see what I'm talking about.

Back to the movie. I thought it was pretty good and the two leads do an excellent job as grieving mothers out for revenge. I must admit I wasn't prepared for the "twist" that came in the latter part of the movie, but there were Easter eggs throughout the film clueing the viewer in as to not everything being what it seemed. Needless to say I was still shocked at the big reveal and didn't know whether to be pissed or impressed with the scriptwriter for pulling the rug out from under me. I decided on the latter, because the twist did not keep me from enjoying the film.

The cast also includes Andre Royo, Yolonda Ross, and Julius Tennon (Viola's hubby) as her love interest.